Dragons Team Rd 2

[dino2170]

you know it hurts me but flo should be given his marching orders along with others at the end of the year. i know he was a great ambassador BUT no speed and hes regularly making positional mistakes. if hes playing injured, it is an indictment of our playing roster if he was given no choice but to play that is poor refection of marys ability as a selector

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[Vasilevsky]

Lafai wasn't bad but I think Aitken would be much better even if not on his preferred side. The bottom line is, if Aitken has a place in this team he must learn to play on the other side if Dugan is to remain in the centres. Otherwise no point in keeping him on the books because I think we can all see he is a poor winger.

How did the young centres (Thompson and Milne?) go in marking up against Hurrell last weekend? If they handled that they can handle a chance on the wing in first grade.

 

[blacksafake]

Thommo(if 100%fit) in for Mathews.
Thought Lafai handled Chambers ok last night.

 

[giboz71]

i see your logic but really the problem is playing a fullback at right centre.. Nighty as you mentioned must be right winger and Aitken right centre. Peter M to left wing.
if we want a ball playing fullback then DUgan doesnt really fit into the team..
sell him off and free up 700k in salary cap to invest in a decent hooker or half back.

Its a dilemma for sure.

Duges looked like a fish out of water at right centre and defending on the right wing. Logic says he should revert to FB, but could he have executed that pass to Nighty for our first try?? Not likely. Mann in 1 game has equalled Duges try assists for all of last year.

But clearly we miss Dugan's kick returns. So what do we do - over to you Mary.

 

[Objective View]

Lafai wasn't bad but I think Aitken would be much better even if not on his preferred side. The bottom line is, if Aitken has a place in this team he must learn to play on the other side if Dugan is to remain in the centres. Otherwise no point in keeping him on the books because I think we can all see he is a poor winger.

How did the young centres (Thompson and Milne?) go in marking up against Hurrell last weekend? If they handled that they can handle a chance on the wing in first grade.

Spot on.

Straight Shooter

 

[BennyV]

Lafai wasn't bad but I think Aitken would be much better even if not on his preferred side. The bottom line is, if Aitken has a place in this team he must learn to play on the other side if Dugan is to remain in the centres. Otherwise no point in keeping him on the books because I think we can all see he is a poor winger.

How did the young centres (Thompson and Milne?) go in marking up against Hurrell last weekend? If they handled that they can handle a chance on the wing in first grade.

Not sure how anyone could claim that Aitken could do more than Lafai last night. Neither of our centres had any room to move due to sideways running halves, Lafai showed some classy moments with some good footwork as well as the kick inside for a repeat set. 1 poor read in defence, otherwise matched up well against one of the better centres in the comp.

Aitken wasn't terrible on the wing, but the switching with Dugan thing failed. When they switched back, Aitken handled Koribete fine. HOWEVER, if he is staying in the team on the wing, make it left wing...can't have 2 blokes learning a position on the same side of the field. Let Flo defend with Dugan and Aitken play outside Lafai, or bring in another left winger.

 

[Vasilevsky]

Not sure how anyone could claim that Aitken could do more than Lafai last night. Neither of our centres had any room to move due to sideways running halves, Lafai showed some classy moments with some good footwork as well as the kick inside for a repeat set. 1 poor read in defence, otherwise matched up well against one of the better centres in the comp.

Aitken wasn't terrible on the wing, but the switching with Dugan thing failed. When they switched back, Aitken handled Koribete fine. HOWEVER, if he is staying in the team on the wing, make it left wing...can't have 2 blokes learning a position on the same side of the field. Let Flo defend with Dugan and Aitken play outside Lafai, or bring in another left winger.

I don't think anyone thinks he was terrible. It is merely a question of how the team can be better.

 

[BennyV]

I don't think anyone thinks he was terrible. It is merely a question of how the team can be better.

To be fair, I've seen a few people stating he was poor and should be shafted, which is madness - as I said, he did a decent job up against a very good oppositenumber, 1 poor read in defence but some classy moments in attack.

If we are wondering how the team can be better, the hooker and halves should be the ones under the microscope. The former needs not drop his bundle after the first 15 minutes, while the 6 and 7 need to straighten the hell up. Simple thingsthat will see immediate improvement, may even give both our centres a chance to see what they can do.

 

[Vasilevsky]

To be fair, I've seen a few people stating he was poor and should be shafted, which is madness - as I said, he did a decent job up against a very good oppositenumber, 1 poor read in defence but some classy moments in attack.

If we are wondering how the team can be better, the hooker and halves should be the ones under the microscope. The former needs not drop his bundle after the first 15 minutes, while the 6 and 7 need to straighten the hell up. Simple thingsthat will see immediate improvement, may even give both our centres a chance to see what they can do.

I stated shortly before the game that one glaring weakness is the lack of speed in the Dragons outside backs. Whether you like him or not, Dino is right. We need speed and lots of it.

 

[blacksafake]

To be fair, I've seen a few people stating he was poor and should be shafted, which is madness - as I said, he did a decent job up against a very good oppositenumber, 1 poor read in defence but some classy moments in attack.

If we are wondering how the team can be better, the hooker and halves should be the ones under the microscope. The former needs not drop his bundle after the first 15 minutes, while the 6 and 7 need to straighten the hell up. Simple thingsthat will see immediate improvement, may even give both our centres a chance to see what they can do.

This.
You can't be running sideways against the better defensive sides like the storm & expect to have success.The storm just gobbled them up all night everytime they went sideways.Our early success was on the back of direct running.

 

[Vasilevsky]

DRAGONS

1 Kurt Mann

2 Euan Aitken

3 Josh Dugan

4 Timoteo Lafai

5 Jason Nightingale

6 Gareth Widdop

7 Benji Marshall

8 Leeson Ah Mau

9 Mitch Rein

10 Russell Packer

11 Tyson Frizell

12 Will Matthews

13 Michael Cooper

Interchange

14 Ben Creagh

15 Jack De Belin

16 Dunamis Lui

17 Siliva Havili

18 Peter Mata'utia

19 Jacob Marketo

 

[RedVDragon]

Rein picked why a joke. We will never dominate by continuing to select this hopeless individual.

 

[getsmarty]

Lafai wasn't bad but I think Aitken would be much better even if not on his preferred side. The bottom line is, if Aitken has a place in this team he must learn to play on the other side if Dugan is to remain in the centres. Otherwise no point in keeping him on the books because I think we can all see he is a poor winger.

How did the young centres (Thompson and Milne?) go in marking up against Hurrell last weekend? If they handled that they can handle a chance on the wing in first grade.

Lafai /Nightingale combo missed 1 tackle to Dugan/Aitken 9 tackles. Apparently worst of the round.

 

[Vasilevsky]

Lafai /Nightingale combo missed 1 tackle to Dugan/Aitken 9 tackles. Apparently worst of the round.

I have denounced Aitken being on the wing repeatedly and expressed extreme doubt about the Mann and moving Dugan from fullback. At least not without a much better replacement than Mann.

 

[coast_dragons]

I think Dino, Vasilevsky, RedV and OV should pick the team so I can have a good laugh.

 

[Objective View]

I think Dino, Vasilevsky, RedV and OV should pick the team so I can have a good laugh.

My Rd 1 team would have won last night.

Tell me what's so funny about my week 2 selections?

Straight Shooter

 

[Fingerbang]

Dino won't be happy until we have Usain Bolt on the wing

 

[BrissyRedV]

My Rd 1 team would have won last night.

Tell me what's so funny about my week 2 selections?

Straight Shooter

I call bullshit. 1. Dugans biggest strength, his kick returns, would have been negligible with the accuracy of Cronks kicking game last night. 2. Milne making his 1st grade debut and marking up on Koro would most likely still have led to those tries. 3. The try to flo, if Dugan had the ball instead of Mann, the play would have died with him as per last season. 4. Talking hypotheticals saying if they did this they would've won is a croc of shit and not worth examining further.

 

[BennyV]

I call bullshit. 1. Dugans biggest strength, his kick returns, would have been negligible with the accuracy of Cronks kicking game last night. 2. Milne making his 1st grade debut and marking up on Koro would most likely still have led to those tries. 3. The try to flo, if Dugan had the ball instead of Mann, the play would have died with him as per last season. 4. Talking hypotheticals saying if they did this they would've won is a croc of shit and not worth examining further.

Give it up, I already explained that to him and asked for a shred of evidence of a moment where his team would have made a positive different. He's a flake and he couldnt. Claims to be a lawyer and intellectual, yet cant put together a simple argument to back his case.

 

[Highland Saint]

I call bullshit. 1. Dugans biggest strength, his kick returns, would have been negligible with the accuracy of Cronks kicking game last night. 2. Milne making his 1st grade debut and marking up on Koro would most likely still have led to those tries. 3. The try to flo, if Dugan had the ball instead of Mann, the play would have died with him as per last season. 4. Talking hypotheticals saying if they did this they would've won is a croc of shit and not worth examining further.

Thank you for this. One of the most overlooked things in people trashing the Mann/Dugan switch